Primeval Beech Forests

The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany are the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech (Fagus sylvatica). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The Slovakian part of the site was first nominated separately in 2004, but was then withdrawn by the State Party to opt for a more likely to be succesfull transboundary nomination with Ukraine.

Visit May 2008

In preparation of my visit I had a difficult time finding any practical information about the nominated properties in Slovakia. My guidebook has nothing of any value on them, but does include a handy map called 'Snina wooden churches' that covers the same area. The IUCN evaluation holds a shady map, which seems to point out only 3 properties on the Slovak side instead of 4. A better bet for maps is the Slovak/Ukrainian nomination dossier. I also found a regional website (see link to the left, Snina Region) which has information about villages and parks. It describes access to the Vihorlat Protected Landscape via the village of Zemplínske Hámre. So I turn this route into the goal for myself today, possibly (weather and other circumstances permitting) with a walk to Morské Oko lake.

On the road eastward from Kosice, I quite suddenly encounter a sign 'Morské Oko' (near Remetské Hámre) - which is the lake on Mt. Vihorlat. I drive on (foolhardedly), determined to give the other side of the mountain a go. The closer I get to the Ukraine border, the more dense the soft green coloured forest gets. Especially the area around Ubl'a is very scenic. Here also I find two villages with domed Orthodox (or Eastern Catholic?) churches. Finally I arrive at 'my approach' to Vihorlat: Zemplinkske Hámre. Its streets are filled with churchgoers, who stare at me, the outsider. I drive all the way to where the road ends ... and then there's nothing! Well, this is where the mountain starts but I can't see myself walk into the forest without any guidance.

So is this WHS number 273 or a near miss? I believe I've straddled the borders of the inscribed area (or at least their buffer zones). I have seen mountains covered in thick forest of what I suppose are beeches. And I give myself some bonus points for trying! Actually I wonder if visitors ever reach the core areas, which are quite small (see the maps in the nomination dossier) and I wouldn't know how to get there without a local guide or camping out.

Reviews

Thijs van den Berg (United States):Jasmund National Parks is on Rugen. My ferry from Sweden was along Jasmund National Park so I really enjoy watching closer to Konigsstuhl and the part of the Jasmund National Park. There was also blue/ green water at this unique park. Stena Line has ferry service between Trelleborg, Sweden and Sassnitz, Germany daily. I should to visit this park in the next time but on foot in this park.

Date posted: March 2015

Boj (Philippines & China):Berlin-based travelers can easily visit the Grumsin Forest in one day. The closest train station to the park is Angermünde (about an hour from Berlin Hauptbahnhof). Buses run hourly from there to Altkünkendorf town. The new visitor center in Altkünkendorf provides information on hikes, trails inside the forest.

Walking inside the forest is quite an experience, the type you read in German fairy tales. The forest is dark; some areas do not get sunshine.

Date posted: August 2014

Paul Tanner (UK):When choosing which of the 5 German Beech forests to visit we looked for one which was reasonably close to our main route for other WHS and gave us the chance definitely to enter the inscribed area with a hike of 1-2 hours from a roadhead. It came down to 2 – Hainich which is north of Eisenach and therefore convenient for a visit to the Wartburg and Kellerwald-Edersee which is west of Kassel and therefore convenient for a visit to the Bergpark.

It is worth noting that in the case of all 5 WHS inscriptions the inscribed area is significantly smaller than the National Park or Reserve within which they are situated. The inscribed area will have been chosen because it contains the most significant primary growth forest - inevitably that tends to put it in the centre of the Park/Reserve which will also encompass secondary growth areas which will probably contain areas of modern re-planting or re-growth.

We homed in on Kellerwald-Edersee where its northern inscribed boundary is, for a kilometer or so, contiguous with that of the NP at the point where it flanks the Edersee itself. On the drive in it is possible to pick up a reasonably detailed map of the NP at Information Centres - perfectly adequate for a hike following a named trail. The UNESCO inscribed area is clearly differentiated from the NP on this map by green “hatching”. Some German road maps show a “white” road going all the way along the southern side of the Edersee through the inscribed area but this is only a rough path and not open to motor vehicles. The village of Bringhausen is about 10kms west of Edertal and beyond at the park boundary is a (free) parking area titled “Kirchweg”. Here we set out on the “Bloßenberg Route”. See map here http://www.nationalpark-kellerwald-edersee.de/de/naturerleben/wandern/blossenbergroute/

Taking it in a clockwise direction you need to leave it at the bottom where the lake arm reaches in and then cross the bridge going west. But you are still not in the inscribed area!! You need to follow the path towards Asel Sud along the banks of the Edersee and, at some (unmarked) point will enter the WHS. However, as we had copies of both the Nomination File and the Information Centre maps we felt able to strike inland and uphill at the bridge so as to make a circuit coming back along the shore and thus get into a “wilder” part of the forest. We eventually made our way back down to the lake approximately where the Western end of the inscribed area should have been – but we had still not seen ANY “proof” in the form of notice boards, logos etc that we had actually entered the inscribed area! The frequent notice boards both at the car park and along the route describing land form, flora and fauna were liberally covered with logos for numerous ministries and programs but the UNESCO one was notablye absent! This is possibly due to the fact that the NP was created in 2004 and all the signage was completed then – whereas UNESCO inscription only came in 2011. But it isn’t like Germany not to, very visibly, “celebrate” Welterbe status - even if it did mean redoing all the signs! As another attempt we set off further towards Asel Sud than we had intended in order to scout the western boundary and there it was – in the undergrowth, where the path crossed a stream, a small post with an even smaller metal tag screwed to it displaying UNESCO and WH logos! (photo).

Apart from the “proven” success of entering the inscribed area, what else did we gain from our c 2 hour hike (we could by the way easily have continued to Asel where food and drink is available). The path along the Edersee is quite busy with cyclists and is set up for park ranger 4 x4s so I would certainly recommend going inland. There we found some very pleasant quiet mossy glades with vast numbers of fungi and glorious vistas through the trees in the dappled sunlight. We didn’t see any mammals but did get nice views of Great Crested Grebe on the Edersee and, for us, the star sight of an Osprey swooping to catch a fish – a sight we have tried to see on many occasions without success in Africa and Scotland!

Date posted: September 2013

Clyde (Malta):I visited the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park in Germany and spent a great day hiking around the primeval beech forest. Minimal human intervention occurs in the national park which means that trees are left to grow freely. I encountered several beech trees that fell naturally and were completely taken over by wild mushrooms, moss, ferns and other vegetation. The Kellerwald Information Center was my starting point, with interesting informative leaflets, videos and hiking maps for free! Plenty of parking free of charge too! The easiest route (Hagenstein) turned out to be quite rewarding and I spotted the splendid Red Kite, Black Kites, and a woodpecker. There are many species of beetles to be found and interesting flora too. I hope to visit other sites in other countries to be able to compare between them, nonetheless the Kellerwald-Edersee Park surely deserves to be inscribed in the list.

Date posted: July 2013

john booth (New Zealand):The local people in eastern Slovakia do not understand the interest in their trees; they have been surrounded by them for millenia. But having these forests protected for the future is priceless.
I felt a certain ownership of this WHS as I had attended the meeting in Christchurch when the site was first listed in 2007. I was reminded of this each time I inspected a National Park information board. I visited two parts of this site :

Vihorlat : I reached the end of the road in Zemplinske Hamre by bus from Snina, the same spot that Els reached. I crossed a bridge and found a few marked tracks into the forest, but without the benefit of a trail map did not follow them very far.

Stuznica : this part of the Poloniny National Park is accessed by bus from Snina to Nova Sedlice. From the bus stop a track continues past the National Park office up the corner where Slovakia, Ukraine and Poland meet.

Date posted: December 2012

Peter Alleblas (The Netherlands):In July 2011 I planned a long weekend Germany. After my visit to the Fagus Factory (Alfeld) I drove to the Kellerwald NP. The Kellerwald is part of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany. Kellerwald is inscribed in July 2011. I arrived late in the afternoon and decided to visit first the Kellerwald information centre. The centre is build in 2008 and easy to find at the edge of the parc. The building is very nice and I paid 6 euro for the little exhibition about the wildlife inside the parc. The information is totally made with computergraphics. Also at the end they showed a 3D-movie about the parc.
The visit to the centre is a good start before the hiking. Free maps with the trails are available at the desk of the centre. I went to my hotel at the other side of the parc, near the Wildtierparc (animalparc). That was a ride of almost 40 minuts along the Edersee. Beautiful !

The next day it was raining and cold, not really perfect for a good hike. The trails where slippery and muddy . So…I changed my plan and decided to go up with the cable train (standseilbahn). In 10 minuts I was 300 meters higher into the forest. First I walked to the viewpoint and later I walked a little bit on different trails.

Kellerwald NP is easy to visit. There are a lot of trails (difficult and easy). The signs are very good. On the internet and in the information centre is a lot of information available. It was the visit more then worth. Only the rain was not so nice that day. I walked back to my hotel where I had parked my car. I was tired and I had no more energy to visit the wildtierparc. With a good feeling I drove back to my home (Netherlands).

Date posted: August 2011

Hubert Scharnagl (Austria):In 2009 I visited Hainich national park, one of the five german properties that extend the Carpathian beech forrest WHS in 2011. It is easy to get there, the park is at the motorway A4, very close to the Wartburg castle in Eisenach. The nominated area is the core zone of the park and represents about one-third of the entire national park. I first went to the information center „Thiemsburg“ and asked which of the many marked trails will give the best impression of the area nominated for WHS. A very nice man at the information recomended the „Sperbersgrundweg“, a 6 km loop walking trail, that starts at the car park „Craulaer Kreuz“. He was very exited about the upcoming WHS nomination and explained to me that is a major difference between the German and Carpathian forests that they are located at different heights. The three sites in the north-east of Germany are at sea level, Hainich and Kellerwald are in the lower highlands (200 to 600 m above sea level), and the Carpathian forests are above 1000 m sea level. I'm not an expert in botany, so that I can not judge whether this warrants the inscrption. For me it was just a forest, certainly a beautiful forest. Beeches are large and amazing trees and I really enjoyed my walk through the forest. But it is just a forest. For those who think of Grand Cayon or the Jungfrau Protected Area in the Alps as an natural WHS, would probably be disappointed. However, I have to admit that the other german properties could be more interesting in terms of the landscape: Jasmund lies on the coast of the island of Rügen and there are impressive chalk riffs, Serrahn and Grumsin are in the Mecklenburg lake district.
In the „Thiemsburg“ information center is also the entrance to a treetop walk (entrance fee 8,50 Euro), which does not belong to the WHS but is worth a visit.

Date posted: July 2011

Jarek Pokrzywnicki (Poland):

Basic info about Slovakian part only. Stuzica Reserve is the only easy accessible part of Heritage (with marked footpaths). Havesova and Vihorlat are located in remote part (if you have good map you can go there but there are no roads), Rozok is close to Ukrainian border with a road passing through but its not a marked footpath.
Stuzica in Slovakia is somehow similar to Bialowieza Forest, not in type of flora but as the area of no human activity. All fallen trees stay as they are the whole area is big enough to host big mammals, there are no paved roads inside the reserve. Two marked footpaths are the only way to get there.

Date posted: October 2008

Have you been to Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany? Share your experiences!